There were about 30-40 more pro-Nick emails that I could’ve printed this week but didn’t since they all pretty much said the same thing. There are a few in here that brought up good points, but I tried not to make this whole email bag a “here’s why Nick’s decision was great” love fest. Enjoy…
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Why in all the contestants interviews do they make reference to winning 250,000 on BP if they are really only planning on sharing and getting 125,000? Why would Rachel get upset? She has said numerous times 250,000. If she was planning on sharing, then she would only get the 125,000. What happens if they both pick keep it all? I assume they would have to share??

Does Chris H ever mingle and party at the cocktail parties?

I read you talking about pie…..I make a killer peach sour cream pie…you would love it!

Comment: If they both pick “keep,” the remaining 18 cast members split the $250k. If you haven’t done the math on it already, that’s $13,888 for each person, which would no doubt be the worst ending this show could ever have. They better hope the final two never both choose “keep.” How anticlimactic.
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Hey Reality Steve!

A couple things…

1. In the very first promo for bachelor pad 3, Michael is down on one knee with what appears to be a ring in his hand:

His face looks a little bronze, so i’m wondering if that was just a clip from the wax museum (perhaps he was joking around with a fan?) or if he was actually proposing to someone?

2. How come there was no kissing contest this season? As trashy and tasteless as this competition was, I have to admit that it was probably my favourite thing about bachelor pad. I heard Natalie got sick from it in season 1, do you think that played a reason into it being discontinued?

3. Another random question/comment but in all the seasons of bachelor pad, don’t you find that season 1 had the best contestants? Not only was everyone beautiful (both males and females) but the aura just felt much more VIP like and fresh compared to the others. Now, I find that the casts as a whole aren’t as good looking (with the exception of certain people) as the season 1 cast. Furthermore, do you ever think that some contestants would’ve done better in other seasons? Like perhaps Jamie would have done better being in season 1 since there were much more single, attractive men present; or perhaps Krisily/Nikki would’ve done better in season 2, which was a season that was much more strategic based and focused on creating relationships rather than season ,1 which mainly consisted of hooking up and luck?

4. Finally, in an earlier blog you basically implied that the producers didn’t show the real reason why Brittany and Erica (Taltos twins) left bachelor pad. Are you allowed to speak on it now/will you ever be? Their anti-climatic and abrupt leaving will forever have me confused.

Comment: 1. It was from the Wax Museum date. He was jokingly in a pose proposing to Rachel.

2. Because they thought that Hot Sludge Funday and Spelling Bee’s were more appealing I guess. The kissing contest should always be a challenge on this show.

3. I don’t really care about the attractiveness of the “Bachelor Pad” seasons. Not something I’ve really given one second of thought too. Felt much more VIP? I don’t know about that either. They are reality show contestants. What’s VIP about that? Impossible to try and figure out how certain contestants would do on other seasons since it’s all speculation.

4. Sure. One of the twins (the slutty one), hooked up with Tony and then he basically sh*tcanned her the next day. So she was hurt and wanted to leave, but the other one like Dave and wanted to stay. So they argued til the wee hours of the morning about it.
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Steve,

That was by far the best episode of the season. It seemed like nearly every hypocrisy represented there was exposed, from Stagliano’s lame excuses to Kalon fooling around on Lindzi, and to Chris still not quite able to climb out of douchedom—it was borderline cathartic. But the greatest moment was the ending, with Nick keeping the money to himself. Yeah, I’ll admit, it made for one heck of a crappy day for poor Rachel, but really, what better way to treat that entire clique of overweening, beyond-your-15-minutes wannabees? Nick kept the money because the cool kids had dissed him all season long, which made them look ridiculous, and then his own lack of graciousness afterwards made the whole show look ridiculous. Really, you couldn’t do a better job of punctuating how truly awful all these people are. After having treated the “superfans” like inferior people and voting them off at the earliest opportunity so they could hang on to this weird sense of ownership they seem to have about the whole “Bachelor” franchise, the one guy they thought was useless wound up flipping the bird to all of them.

Comment: Pretty much. I think the anti-Nick fans are more pro-Rachel fans. The people who are anti-Nick right now are the same as those from the master alliance in the house. A week ago, they didn’t care about him, they thought he was a non-factor, and he wasn’t even worth talking about. Now that he made a major move and changed not only this season, but every upcoming “Bachelor Pad” season, they all seem to hate him and what he did. He won a game show. I don’t get why people would be so upset. Everyone on this show lies. He just told the biggest lie when he needed to most, and that was convincing Rachel that he was gonna go with “share.” Why do you think Rachel ultimately gave in to Nick to take Chris and Sarah to the finals? Because she knew they’d beat them. As much as she didn’t want to, she knew that was the right choice. So didn’t Rachel make a selfish decision to take what she thought was going to be 125k by agreeing to that? How is that any less selfish than what Nick did?
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From the moment Rachel revealed that she picked share until Nick got into the Limo and left, I kept thinking he was a wrestler turning heel. It was all there, deep seeded resentment boils over into the ultimate betrayal before a shocked audience, and no one saw it coming. I kept waiting for him and Rachel to start REALLY arguing, her with a lot of waving arms and him getting all raged up and pointing his finger in her face until finally she turns away from him in frustration and BAM! He hits her in the back with a folding chair and stands over her hyperventilating with his eyes bulging out of his head. Then he rips his shirt off and pounds his chest staring at the camera, still hyperventilating, while the audience looks on in horror and Jim Ross screams “MY GOD! MY GOD!” Or maybe I just watched too much professional wrestling when I was a kid.

Even without all that, Chris must be a little relieved that his douchebaggery is no longer what people will remember the most about this season.

Comment: Great analogy. This was the ultimate heel turn. Like, I’m talking on the levels of Shawn Michaels superkicking Marty Jannetty through a plate glass window good. And considering Nick is built like a wrestler, maybe he should take this character and run with it. WWE is calling, Nick.
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Hi Steve,

Watching BP from last night and had a few thoughts…

(1) I totally agree with you about Nick. He made the best and smartest decision and all of the rest of them are just mad that he outsmarted them. He actually articulated his points very well, and, while I understand why they’re mad, I am having trouble understanding why a lot of the other players can’t at least admit they got played. Girls are maybe too emotional to play this game…especially girls from these shows.

(2) Michael Stagliano sure thinks of himself as the entertainer of the group, doesn’t he? He is driving me crazy how he’s hooting and hollering and making comments about everything, He knows the camera is on him a lot and he obviously loves it…I used to like him, but now I’m not so sure…he’s irritating me…

Thanks…was just thinking about that and wanted to share…

Glad things went well for you in Vegas!

Comment: 1. Like I said, it’s a game show. What Nick did to Rachel is no different than what happens on a weekly basis in “Survivor” when someone tells someone, “Oh don’t worry, you’re safe at Tribal. We’re not voting you out,” and they do. Happens all the time. Which ultimately cost that person a chance at 4 times the money that “Bachelor Pad” offers. The reason the reaction is so strong to Nick is because we’d never seen it like this before on this show. Nor did anyone probably think we would see it. I didn’t. I never thought anyone would have the balls to pull it off.

2. Michael is not for everyone. He’s definitely an animated character and very much a ham. Some people love it, some are annoyed by it.
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Dear Steve,

For inclusion in your Thursday column hopefully:

I think you have a clever style of writing. Did you study creative writing in college?

Comment: No. B.A. in Communications. Of course, I had to write plenty of papers my senior year, including my brilliant senior thesis on the Organizational Culture of a Sports Talk Show, but I never specifically took any writing classes in college. I did write a sports column for the weekly college paper for my junior and senior years. You think I get people riled up now with what I write? You should’ve seen me back in 1996-97. Plenty of people didn’t like me then either. Fine by me. As long as I’m doing something to cause a reaction, then I’m doing something right.
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For what it’s worth, I love Nick for what he did. I always like an underdog and I feel like he might be one of the smarter players of the franchise.

The only thing he has to lose though was public opinion. We all know fans of this franchise can be a little too “opinionated” (like how they treated Wes or any other “villian” on the show). I hope Nick doesn’t get this kind of reaction in real life. But from what I can see, the show’s live audience had a pretty positive reaction to Nick’s decision, which is actually kind of surprising. What’s the split you’re getting on people’s reaction towards Nick? Are most people liking him or hating him for what he did?

Comment: In terms of the reaction I’ve gotten on Twitter and emails to me, it’s running about 95/5 in favor of Nick. Maybe higher.
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Hmmmmmmm Sean. Not sure how I feel about him being the Bach but it might be ok. He seems like a nice guy and will probably have a “hard time” saying bye to the women he doesn’t choose. I wonder if there will be any crazies like Courtney this time around. Didn’t care for her but she did bring the drama which is what the network wants!!!! I would have like Jef to be the Bach but instead he has to deal with the Princess now. ;o) Please don’t bring Erica back for the next BP if there is one………….her gavel banging is enough already. Go away! ;o)

I’m fine with Sean being the Bachelor. I agree with Steve in that the contestants are the ones that make it an entertaining season, regardless of who the lead is. I just hope that Sean doesn’t allow Fleiss and Co. to manipulate and control every single decision he makes. Sean seems like a decent guy and I’m looing forward to watching his season.

I was thinking about how future votes might go — and I think the only leverage any final couple will have to “force” each other to Share might be this:

You might trust them but you should constantly assert to them, that if they don’t intend to Share and if you even get a whiff that they will vote to Keep, you will purposely vote Keep as well, to force the money to go to panel of contestants.

They either Share or get nothing.

Of course, the other contestants will try to put doubt into the finalists heads that they are lying to each other, to get them to vote Keep and give the money “away”.

I’m excited that Sean is the Bachelor. I didn’t care of Emily being the Bachelorette cause she alreaty “won” same with Reberto he “won” Ali’s season. Oh well…. I’ll have to do some looking around for Sean in Dallas. I wonder where he hangs out?

@jessica1- I was excited about the Revenge marathon too, but I looked at the listings and they’re only showing four episodes for the marathon. (Pilot, Daniel’s proposal to Emily episode, the engagement party episode, and the finale) It’s the same episodes ABC has available to watch online now.

I think Sean will make a good bachelor…or at least he deserves to be the bachelor….he seems serious about finding someone and settling down. I preferred to see Arie but I’m at least glad it’s Sean over Roberto.

Oh yeah…Rachel didn’t “deserve” the money any more than Nick. She maybe had more friends than he did but that’s about it. She didn’t really do much the whole show. Of course i don’t blame her for being mad..i would be too but I mean Nick wasn’t anymore wrong than Rachel not picking Jaclyn to go into the finals…she took away the chance for $125k-$250k for her own good friend…because of money.

sorry but I’m laughing that RS even brought up Rachel suing Nick…that is SO dumb cuz it’s a game show…that option is out there. Otherwise Rachel should have just raised her hand and said “well we don’t need to do the ending cuz Nick and I have a verbal contract that we’re both gonna pick Share” lol.

Law student here. FYI, verbal agreements over $500 are not enforceable…anything over $500 has to be in writing. A lot of factors depend on whether or not this would be an enforceable contract, but if he just promised to give her half, it’s not valid. A contract consists of an offer, acceptance, and consideration. Nick would have nothing to gain by giving her half, so there would be no consideration as well. No contract.

So excited Sean is the next bachelor! This is the first bachelor since Jason I am actually excited about and on board with. I like handsome, nice, all-American boys! He is going to be great. And since I actually like him I’ll actually be more invested in who he picks. While with Ben, I thought he deserved Courtney and they made a perfect narcissistic pair, Brad has always got on my nerves and I just didn’t care. And Jake, what can one say about Jake? He was awful and he chose Vienna for heaven’s sake! I am so glad it isn’tRoberto!

I wonder if the story about Sean has to do with Emily Obrien. They seem to flirt it up a bit on twitter. Just a guess. I saw that the other day she told some girl she dodged a bullet by not waving at Sean at the park. I assumed it was sarcasm. Anyway…

Linds, good point. I was wondering if there was a romance brewing between Sean and Emily O’Brien, and perhaps he wouldn’t take the gig over it. Seems she is taking the grade school tactic of teasing the boy she likes. Guess it didn’t pan out this time since he’s about to meet/date 25 other ladies!

I’ve been thinking about how all of this will change as a result of Nick’s decision, too. If I were on the show, and felt like sharing the money at the end, I would tell my partner that I was definitely choosing “Keep” no matter what, in order to not get scooped. I would make it extremely clear that there was no way I was varying from that plan, BUT that I was committed to sharing the money with my partner if I won it. It is possible that they could be so angry by my aggressiveness that they could choose “keep” just to keep me from having any, but I’d be willing to bet that wouldn’t happen given the backdrop of the previous decision and the sum of money involved.

@azak, no offense meant, but you might want to hit the books a bit harder before you graduate/ take the bar, as your analysis comes up a bit short. You are correct as to the required elements of a valid contract, but there is absolutely consideration here if there was an agreement. The consideration would be the promise of each to “share,” thus giving up the potential to receive $250k (meeting the requirement of a legal detriment needed for consideration). Similarly, there is detrimental reliance by Rachel if she voted “share” because of the agreement. If there was an agreement, the terms of the BP contract (and inclusion of waiver of rights to sue) would probably be the determining factor. RS apparently doesn’t understand how legal fees work, either, when he said that Nick would have to pay legal fees if Rachel sues. Generally, the winning side in such a case can get the court to order the losing side to reimburse their legal fees. Either way, I love Nick’s decision.

I think I would choose keep if I was too be in such a position. Yes, there is the risk that your partner chooses keep as well and you get nothing, but if you choose share, then you run the risk of your partner choosing keep and loosing half of it. Choosing keep would just ensure that if I did get the money I would get it all

@jessica1….your ignorance is showing. pdxfan doesn’t mean they are a fan of the airport. I moved to Porland, OR a few months ago, and I came to realize the people in Portland refer to the city itself as “PDX”…..not just the airport. It is just a nickname. My assumption (and you know what they say about assuming things – but I’m sure my assumption is closer than yours) is that pdxfan is just a “fan from Portland”.

That said……hello to pdxfan from another Portlander. I am loving it here!

rollingeyes – ah yes, the usual inclusive, friendly banter we’ve all come to know and love. it was A JOKE. I know exactly what it is and i was saying hi to A FELLOW NW’r. Just pointing out the *name* has a double meaning….

you are well named and your attempt at snark was wasted. go back to the pearl and pretend to be a hipster.